HUNDREDS of people turned out yesterday to pay their respects to a Scottish soldier killed in Afghanistan as his body and those of three of his comrades were returned to British soil.
Corporal Kevin Mulligan, 26, Lance Corporal Dale Hopkins, 23, Private Kyle Adams, 21, and Private Jason Williams, 23, were killed in Helmand Province last week.
Corporal Mulligan, from Alloa, Clackmannanshire, had been due to become a father, with his fiancee expected to give birth in October.
After a private chapel ceremony for their families, hearses carrying the Union Flag-draped coffins were driven to the high street of nearby Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, for a memorial procession.
Soldiers lined the streets alongside Royal British Legion veterans, shopkeepers and residents to pay tribute to the fallen men.
Standard-bearers from the Legion raised their flags and the silence was broken only by tearful gasps from the crowd.
As the procession paused by the war memorial, which was covered in floral tributes, relatives and friends placed flowers on the hearses.
Others at the side of the road held aloft posters of the soldiers' images and placed flowers on the hearses.
Kevin Tompkins, a member of the Royal British Legion Riders' Branch, came from nearby Marlborough on his Triumph Spirit ST motorcycle to pay homage to the men.
It was the 29th repatriation attended by the motorcycling ex-servicemen and civilians, who aim to give the British Legion a "different" image.
Mr Tompkins, 38, a former Adjutant General Support worker, said: "We're here to pay our respects to the fallen and to show the families that they not forgotten."
Cpl Mulligan, L/Cpl Hopkins and Pte Adams, who were all from the Parachute Regiment were killed when their Jackal armoured vehicle was hit by an explosion north of Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province on August 6.
It is understood they belonged to the Special Forces Support Group, which was formed in 2006 to assist SAS and Special Boat Service missions.
Pte Williams, of the 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment, was killed in Helmand on Saturday while trying to retrieve the body of a fallen comrade.
He was struck by an improvised explosive device during an operation to secure an area where three Afghan soldiers had been killed.
Meanwhile, Dame Vera Lynn questioned the point of the conflict in Afghanistan.
The singer, known as the Forces' Sweetheart for entertaining them during the Second World War, said: "I don't know what Afghanistan is all about. I don't know what we are doing there.
"At one time, our soldiers would fight for the country they came from to stop the enemy invading, but now they are involved in other countries' problems."
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